Determining the service set identification of an access point in a wireless local area network

Abstract

The service set identification (SSID) of an access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), where the AP suppresses its SSID in beacon frames broadcasted by the AP, is determined. At a detector located in the WLAN, a probe request broadcasted by a station through the WLAN is received. At the detector, a probe response sent by the AP to the station through the WLAN in response to the probe request broadcasted by the station is received. At the detector, the SSID of the AP is obtained from the received probe response.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 410,668, filed Apr. 8, 2003, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, which claims the benefit of an earlier filed provisional application U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 371,084, entitled MONITORING A LOCAL AREA NETWORK, filed on Apr. 8, 2002, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention generally relates to wireless local area networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to monitoring a wireless local area network.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Computers have traditionally communicated with each other through wired local area networks (“LANs”). However, with the increased demand for mobile computers such as laptops, personal digital assistants, and the like, wireless local area networks (“WLANs”) have developed as a way for compu...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, in some instances, the AP is configured to suppress its SSID in the beacon frames, which prevents someone from determining the SSID of the AP from the beacon frames.

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